VanDam did more than simply win, he beat the field by more than 11 pounds, and in doing so; he set an all time heavy weight record for the Bassmaster Classic. His dominance began with a plan that was hatched in the fall of ; one that was built on maximizing fishing time. His plan required a vision into the future, and for it to be successful it needed a set of circumstances to line up. His plan required precision presentations and a calculated patience that kept him locked into focus on one area and a specific set of targets that produced his winning stringers.
In a way, the win was vintage KVD, yet a frightening continuance of a new, more patient competitor that has seemingly reached a new stride. Practice VanDam chose not to visit the Louisiana Delta during the period before the water way went off limits to the competitors. While other competitors spent days and weeks fishing the waterways, or searching for the most efficient runs to far away fishing grounds; VanDam was attending to family and business needs.
However, the decision not to go south did not mean that VanDam was not strategizing. He laid his cards on the table of efficiency, betting that he would have more fishing time, even during a fog delay. Since he was gambling on spending only the three official pre-practice days, and the official practice day to identify the winning area and pattern. Seeing the surroundings and banking on a forecasted warming trend, VanDam said he was almost entirely committed to Cataouatche, without even getting a single bite.
He said that he spent the final full practice day looking for backup patterns in the area; then he did the same for the official practice day. His first day weight of 19 pounds, 3 ounces found him in third place after the first day.
Tournament Day Two The second day started quickly again, with VanDam catching three fish in the first hour, however, he was still experiencing a tremendous amount of short bites on the spinnerbait; he knew he needed to make a change. He said the advantage that the crankbait offered him was the ability to feel through the cover at a much slower speed. He felt his way through the stump field with his crankbait in the dirty water looking for the stumps so that he could make multiple presentations to each one.
It was when he made multiple casts to one particular stump that he clued into the part of the program that would prove to be the death knell to his competition. Not enough to catch VanDam, but another fish close to 3 pounds gives him three very nice fish. After those good bites early, most of the fish coming in are in the 2-pound range.
Everyone is fishing a crankbait right now. Earlier in the week it was a spinnerbait until midway through the day yesterday, VanDam pulled out a crankbait and started catching them.
Whether he was the first one to do it or not, everyone else has made the change. I just read Rob Russow's blog entry at a. He mentions an exchange between KVD and Martens. KVD relayed to Aaron that he had "about 16 pounds.
BASSTrakk doesn't have them that high. Rob Russow, who has two of the best eyes on the water, had it lighter than that. We, all of us including VanDam, can just speculate on what he may have. But what I really don't think is speculation is what KVD was seeking to accomplish in that exchange. KVD is the master at playing the game. He knows the area he is in is capable of producing a big sack for Martens. He knows Martens is capable of catching a big sack. But he also knows he can plant the seed of doubt and let it sprout, plant the seed of futility and let it grow.
Each morning in the interviews, he would not only say he was confident that he could win, but add a fishing report and advice into his speech to all the other anglers. It wasn't like he was saying "you go and do this" but he would say something like "once these guys get going, they are the best in the business.
They start getting up real shallow and tossing their jigs and crankbaits around wood cover,'' and so on. Basically telling them how they could catch more fish, separating him more and more from Skeet. As for Skeet, the last thing he needed was for more guys to know how to get it done. And a little air goes out of the sails. Like I said, KVD is the master of that game. And it is a very big part of the game. We'd been on Aaron for 30 minutes without seeing him set the hook when he finally caught a decent keeper.
He's back by the livewells getting things organized to eventually cull. Chapman still just has one fish. There are three camera boats, including ours, following him. A spectator boat followed him into the pond this morning, but it just left. Chapman may have been relieved. This is a small area, and he said that any extra disturbance has the potential to spook the fish. Rook just put a fish under 2 pounds in the box and didn't cull. We don't know how many he has, but it appears he's still working on a limit.
With everyone's deficit going into the day, at this point, only Brent Chapman has a chance. They keep circling and after a little while, we expect KVD to move back out to where we are sitting.
Combs and Remitz are pretty close and haven't moved much, with Remitz coming out the better of the two so far today. The action has kept up over in the tank ponds. VanDam caught a small keeper, but it didn't help him. Remitz boated a bass at least 4 pounds, then caught a redfish. I don't know how many these guys have caught the last few days, but they are loving the warm weather. When he was over there, VanDam told Martens he has 16 pounds, which would give him the record. It really depends on the size of his kicker, which could go closer to 6 pounds.
He's sitting in the boat and retying at the moment; he's getting ready to jump back up and hit the Roseau Cane. He's sitting in the boat and retying at the moment, getting ready to jump back up and hit the Roseau Cane. Remitz just caught one in the 3- to 4-pound range. It's amazing how calm he is. If we hadn't seen the splashing when the fish jumped, we might not have known that he had one on -- his body language and position didn't change at all.
Today wasn't much different than yesterday. The fog delay this morning -- about three hours -- cut my fishing time down to about two and a half hours but other than that nothing significant happened. Ike's Day Two blog. He's flipping around the Roseau canes in a small cut off Sabot Pond. Rob has him at more like Chapman followed Gary Klein and Kevin Wirth down the river yesterday through the fog because he didn't have the Lowrance radar.
He had it installed on his boat but doesn't look like he'll need it today. Looks like he'll be at his spot within a few minutes. We had a little excitement when VanDam set the hook a minute ago. I thought the record might drop, but it turned out to just be a redfish that VanDam foul-hooked.
The wind is blowing more than it has all week and that might really be helping this early morning thing. Boyd Duckett, who has been reported as catching two very nice bass, is not fishing the Tank Pond with everyone else.
He's actually on the outside of the tire breakwall. James Kennedy said there are areas with stumps and trash out there that Duckett is probably fishing. VanDam had a little flurry where he caught a small keeper and then caught a 2-pounder, which culled him up to around The other half of this story is about to start unfolding.
Chapman should be real close to Venice by now. Our guys have an idea of where he's going and tried to get a little bit of a head start, so we don't know if boats have started flying by the marina down there or not. Palaniuk is fishing off of his main run from yesterday. Carl, our boat driver, says he's letting his main area "marinate. People asked how VanDam could pull out 22 pounds yesterday while the most anyone else could do was His technique is one of the reasons.
It's kind of a steady retrieve with periods of violence. A snap of the wrist, a quick-quick-pause with the reel handle or a rip of the rod creates a reaction strike similar to the way a bass bites a lipless crankbait being pulled out of grass. Only with KVD, the same simulation is happening on every cast, with or without grass included. As I typed that, another 3-pounder bites and VanDam carefully ropes it to the boat.
With four fish for Look out Toho. At this point the question isn't will he break the record, it will only be can Chapman break it more. There's a lot of action early today. We really haven't had a chance to see what this fishery would do in the early morning hours because of all the delays, and it's showing up nicely today. There are a lot of fish on the board and a lot of fish we know about that haven't reported to BASSTrakk yet. Duckett has added a 5-pounder to the 8 we reported earlier and now confirmed.
He started the day 19th and behind VanDam, so he's not making a run at his second Classic, but he's smoking them. Combs just caught a 3-plus within a short pitch of Remitz, right when a few even-stronger gusts of wind blew through. Keith Combs just caught a bass within a cast of Remitz's boat.
Combs has a valid claim to this area -- he's been here the entire time -- but I'm sure Remitz would've preferred to have that fish for himself. Remitz started the day in fifth, out of the lead. As soon as I pressed the "send" button on the report of Combs' catch, Remitz set the hook and put another bass in the boat. We're trying to confirm with his Marshal now and will let you know for sure. He's fishing right there with everybody else in Cataouatche.
They've been saying all week that big ones live in there. Add this 8-pounder to the Russ Lane pulled out of there yesterday and Martens starts to make sense when he says there's a plus pound bag to be had in that lake. Remitz just caught a small keeper and it went in the livewell. We heard from a spectator that he had a 3-plus earlier. Activity seems to be moderate to constant today.
Maybe it's the morning bite they missed the first two days or maybe the heavier breeze has improved the bite. VanDam pulls into a fish and crouches down so low it looks like he is doing a dance. It's obvious from the start, this is a big fish. He plays this bass very carefully and lays down to yank it into the boat. That was a game changer, as VanDam likes to say. It is easily 5 pounds, probably putting KVD in the James Overstreet captured the moment brilliantly and I'm excited just looking at the shot.
Can't wait for everyone to see it. The picture captures everything that moment was about, from the emotions on Kevin's face, to the death-grip he has on what could be a record-setting fish. Remitz, Combs and Rook are arranged in a triangle. Remitz is reeling at a good clip but moving the boat at a deliberate pace, really seining what appears to be a key stretch. Even though more boats are arriving, they keep well back from the circle.
VanDam is good at keeping contact with the boats around him to let them know where he wants them to stay. They put in a diversion that comes straight off the river to help create more wetlands," Kennedy said. Cal Delta? How about the Louisiana Delta. We're about to put a whupping on Toho today. Looks like Cataouatche is producing as usual early. That's bad for Chapman, who should be sneaking up on Venice within the next 15 minutes. Of course, Martens, Rook and Remitz need the bite in Cataouatche to be hot.
That has to be tough on them. It's one thing to need a pound bag, but when you need to pull it out of an area that's also producing for the guy you're trying to run down, it's a tough situation. Martens has two fish that go about 3 pounds right now. He's going to need a significant upgrade in class to have a shot. Right now there's not a tournament boat within 50 yards of KVD and he took advantage of the "solitude," catching a keeper.
We arrived in the Catouatche scrum a few minutes ago and thought we heard a celebratory war cry from KVD. We're easing our way over toward the mix. A spectator asked Kevin where he should be and now the crew is backing off a bit.
VanDam is fishing a square-billed crankbait with his usual erratic style. The bait dives up to four feet, which is just enough to tick the top of the grass, depending where he holds his rod. If he hits grass or another piece of cover, he pops it free. All of a sudden, at the boat a good fish hits and VanDam sets the hook and swings it right onto the deck. A great start early for KVD with a 3.
Sure enough, VanDam looks like he has one hooked up not even a minute later, but then it either pulled off or was only grass. In the distance, Keith Combs walks a fish to the livewell, but we can't see the size.
It's his second fish of the day, totalling around Then Martens boats a fish, maybe a pound and three-quarters. Some good early-morning action for these guys. With that many guys sharing fish and considering all that is on the line this week, it's amazing that there haven't been many, if now, turf issues.
Even Palaniuk said he's not intimidated being in the same hole as these guys. We just got the call in that Brandon Palaniuk and Kevin VanDam have both gotten on the board with fish. KVD's fish is in the 2-pound range and Palaniuk's is a pound and a half. Keith Combs' boat reported he caught a 1-pound, 1-ounce fish.
Earlier, it was reported that Brandon Palaniuk had one on but word never came if it got in the livewell. I count 14 spectators around the group of six anglers, which is pretty light. KVD doesn't blink at less than Last year at Lay Lake he had at least VanDam looks like he just had a bite but didn't hook up.
Overstreet said that yesterday, if he threw back in immediately, he could catch the fish. Water temperature is 62 degrees in here, which is a slight drop from yesterday. With the fog each night, it stayed stuffy out and kept the water warmer. Kennedy is surprised we haven't seen someone hook up yet with a little bit of wind.
The last few days have been warm and dead calm, so we'll see if the anglers have to adjust. For a Federation guy, there was a lot of hype for him coming here. In addition to all the Kerchal similarities that got people talking, Jerry McKinnis wrote a column about him and he decided to be the first Fed Nat champion to except the invitation to the Elites. The pessimist in me worried that all the pressure and hype -- something Federation anglers typically don't have to deal with in the Classic -- would get to him.
Or that he would just have a bad tournament, which happens, and everybody would move on to something else. But he's had an incredible showing and is getting even more attention at the Classic than he had before. For more on the Federation guys and how they're doing, check out Rob's story from last night. We are on the water, waiting for the anglers to arrive. We're waiting at the area known locally as "The Jump," which is where Red Pass breaks off from the main channel of the Mississippi River.
Conditions are good. There's very little fog. Still a thin layer on the river, but visibility is good, which should mean an easy run for the anglers fishing several miles south of here. Our plan is to intercept Brent Chapman and sit on him until we head back to New Orleans. Morizo Shimizu was the only angler who hat did not take off with the rest of the group.
They were still trying to get his motor fixed while the rest of the competitors idled to the mouth of Bayou Segnette State Park. A lot of records are on the line today for the man from Kalamazoo. With a victory today, he would tie Rick Clunn for four wins in the big show, including two in a row.
If he catches about 15 pounds, he will also set the Classic record for heaviest three-day total, currently the held by Luke Clausen on Toho in I'm rolling with photog James Overstreet and driver James Kennedy, who is a bit crazy, but I can tell already he will be full of great quotes. As we were running down Lake Cat, he yelled, "Kevin will be winning his fourth Classic today.
With this wind we have, this tournament is over. We have a reasonable idea of where he's heading -- that coupled with the lack of fog and we should be on Chapman pretty much all day. We're just praying at this point that there's cell service in his area. James Overstreet and Rob Russow are heading to Cataouatche to sit on VanDam and all the boats who will be fishing within camera range from him. Doug Cox and Pete Robbins are also heading to Cataouatche, but they are going to stay more around the edges, reporting on the Remitz, Palaniuk and a couple others.
Martens won the race to the tank pond by about a mile and reportedly has already made 20 casts. Palaniuk is the first to have one on. No word if he boated it. Obviously, VanDam is in the driver's seat and will be hard to catch. But he hasn't always been a great front-runner. I remember walking back from the final day launch from Lay Lake in when VanDam had the lead and thinking there was no way anyone would beat him.
He looked dialed in and unstoppable. Then he went out and caught 12 pounds, leaving the door open for Duckett and Reese to jump him in the standings. His lead over Duckett going into that day was 2 pounds. This is different. His lead is larger, and there aren't as many guys who can catch him, but we can't take it for granted that KVD will go catch 20 pounds again.
Scott Rook is an even 10 pounds behind KVD in fifth place. He's been fishing alongside the Day Two leader -- as has first-day leader Aaron Martens -- in the Tank Pond, known for producing some monster bass. Yes sir, you are. A local said that last year at this time two pounders were caught there on the same day.
One bite like that from the top six or seven anglers would make this interesting, and a slam dunk if it's KVD. He only fished an hour and 10 minutes yesterday. It's taking us all day. Rook estimated both he and KVD caught around fish on Friday. After his , Rook fell from second to fifth with And what happened to Aaron Martens, the Day One leader with who slipped to third with ? With , Martens is back, but he does have a chance with the prospect of big fish roaming the area.
Oh, and he loves the early bite. We catch them real quick and then it dies and then picks back up around noon," Rook said. They feed at night and continue on early for a little while.
The warmer water gets their metabolism up and means they're going to eat more. KVD just took off. The others are following Dave Mercer is naming them off as the pass the official B. The final day of the Bassmaster Classic is under way.
The national anthem is over and we're having a flyover. The helicopter just buzzed us. Dave Mercer is announcing the first of 25 Classic anglers. Let's Go!!! This has to be a little tougher of a delay for the guys who are running to Venice.
It's one thing to sit and wait in a patch of fog, but the skies here at the ramp are bright, blue and clear. Trey Reid crossed the Empire Bridge about 15 miles north of Venice , and he said you can see for miles. There are no fog issues down there. When Trip lights this firecracker, expect the Venice guys to get more fishing time, at least more than the first two days.
With such limited time to fish yesterday, Kriet reported that some of life's necessities took a back seat. He ate a candy bar at 70mph and, ahem, relieved himself, without ever stopping flipping is Yo Mama. Breaking news; despite clear air here at the park the sherriff reported thick fog in Cataouatche.
Rather than heading back to the hotel for some much-needed shuteye, Aaron Martens was in the boat yard until 9 p. That means more treble-hooked baits after a frustrating day of missed spinnerbait strikes. Should I stay or should I go? Martens is committed to starting where he caught his two biggest fish on Friday, but he's convinced there are untapped wads of big spawners elsewhere on the flat.
Correction, we will have a slight fog delay. Trip Weldon has put a hold on the proceedings and is taking a short ride to the mouth of Lake Cataouatche to assess the situation. Although they isn't any fog at Bayou Segnette State Park, Trey Reid is reporting that the fog isn't completely gone, but conditions along the land route to Venice still have improved vastly. There was a dense patch about a mile wide roughly 15 miles southeast of the takeoff location. He hit a light patch about 30 miles farther down the road, and then another dense patch a few more miles south.
But he says the operative word here is "patch. Reid and cameraman Jerry Cunningham are now 35 miles from Venice and the sun just appeared on the horizon. Unlike Days One and Two, there's no thick haze in front of it, so any lingering foggy patches should burn off before too long.
There is just a different feel to the final day of the Classic. With the smaller field 25 boats it's not as chaotic and it give the guys a chance to soak in the moment. They work all year to get to this point and in roughly 12 hours when they walk across the stage, it's time to start all over.
Only one angler, Gerald Swindle, has qualified for the Classic. One more will qualify today as Classic champion, but I imagine the Classic won't really be on his mind. These guys aren't beyond the moment, either. No matter how many times they have been here, there's something special about the Classic. Cliff Pace: "That moment for me has always been full of chill bumps and anticipation. The day you don't love that feeling, this sport is no longer for you.
Jeff Kriet: "When you first get out there, you're just happy not to be in the hotel. But once you start floating around and you see VanDam, Skeet and Iaconelli, you can't start thinking about how much money VanDam has cost you, how hot Skeet has been, or Klein and his Classics and how he's due.
KVD said the wind that is expected to pick up through mid-morning shouldn't be enough to slow the Venice guys, but it will help his bite in the Tank Pond. He and Shaw Grigsby were eating breakfast with sausage egg biscuits in one hand and weather apps up on their phones in the other. He's entertaining the crowd and getting ready to blast this thing off -- on time. It will be the first on-time take-off of this Classic. At 25th place with 21 pounds, 1 ounces, Kriet's got a little more than half of KVD's leading So outside of catching five 8-pounders that would only give him a chance, he'd realistically just like to make a move up the leaderboard.
Kriet missing a couple fish yesterday - one flopped off the boat when he couldn't make a kick save -- he's headed back to Venice, his new favorite fishing spot. Kriet has only had about 3 and half hours fishing time in the Classic so far and looks forward to more time today. Prefishing in December, he went out for 3 hours and caught 80 bass and 15 redfish.
Where else can you go catch that many fish flipping? Jeff Kriet said that the level of competition on the Elite Series has increased substantially in the past few years, but no one has grown as much as the already-formidable KVD.
Talk about abbreviated days -- yesterday Kriet had 62 minutes to fish and didn't get bit for 40 minutes. Once he got into the key zone a barge operator had to shut off the canal so Kriet had no choice to leave, but not before sacking four bass and losing two. In his rookie year of , Derek Remitz came in second on the California Delta, despite professing not to understand the impacts of the tide on fishing.
This morning he said he still doesn't put much stock in running the tide. I don't plan my day around it. Dean Rojas has just one of a few stories of heartbreak at the Classic. Yesterday, he brought in one of just three pound bags.
Unfortunately, Day One's 4 pounds killed him and he's left with nothing more than a prayer on the final day. The heartbreaking part is that Rojas was on the quality fish to challenge KVD, and he wasn't fishing either of the two most popular areas. Rojas has a canal to himself about 20 minutes from take-off and yesterday, had a blast sight-fishing and throwing his signature frog.
We left the takeoff site a few minutes ago and now we're headed southeast toward Venice on Louisiana For the first time yet this week, we can see dawn breaking on the horizon. It's nice to be able to see past the truck's grill. We'll report again a little farther down the road. Derek Remitz on KVD's dominance: "We can all complain about it but at some pont somebody has to do something about it.
This is just another day at the office for him. He still probably has more drive than all of us. KVD said he was happy to see the clear conditions this morning. That may seem counterintuitive since his closest competitor, Brent Chapman, is making a two-hour run, but KVD is taking all day to accumulate his catch -- every second counts. Venice-bound Jeff Kriet is not part of the radar brigade but he may be rethinking that decision.
Brent Chapman may have been the happiest angler at the boat ramp this morning. I caught up with him as he was preparing to launch his boat a few minutes ago. After two days of fog delays, there's very little fog at the ramp this morning, so it looks like an on-time departure for the 25 remaining anglers. That probably means more to Chapman than anyone else.
Chapman is also making the long run to Venice, and the round trip accounts for about half of his fishing day. So no fog delays means he'll get about four hours to fish his spot instead of the 70 minutes he got with yesterday's nearly three hour fog delay. When I walked out of the hotel and saw the building next to us, I got pretty excited. Having a full four hours to fish -- that's huge.
There's still a little fog hanging over the Mississippi River, but it's not near as bad as the past two days. Besides, Chapman's boat has a brand new Lowrance radar unit on the back deck. After fighting fog for two days, he had a new unit installed last night. No surprise Dean Rojas is throwing his signature frog this week.
He seems to make it work everywhere he goes and under all conditions. The first thing I've done the last three days when alarm started blaring at 4 a. The past two days weren't pretty. Even downtown New Orleans was covered. With a similar forecast today, I was not optimistic this morning, but was thrilled to see no fog out the window. No fog on the 90 bridge over the Mississippi River, and pretty much no fog at the ramp.
If everything holds as is, this should be the first day of this Classic that the anglers will get a full day of fishing. What we don't know, although we have guys heading that way as we speak, is what it looks like in Venice or on the way.
The fact that they're launching on time assuming they launch on time is a huge deal for Brent Chapman, who is the only angler with a realistic shot at dethroning VanDam. Chapman needs a couple more things like this to go his way. Some anglers faltered as expected on the Delta. Some got even better. One more day of fishing left. Who will make the top cut and who will lift the Bassmaster Classic trophy? Expect more of the same great live blog coverage on Sunday as the tournament concludes.
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